Sometimes it's really easy to compare tablets because they don't have lots of feature overlap. In the case of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7and Motorola Droid XYBoard on Verizon Wireless, they have nearly everything in common. Both are smaller tablets with LTE 4G that share the same screen resolution and operating system. They each have a consumer IR remote and AV remote software to control your home theatre equipment, and they have 16 gigs of storage with a gig of RAM. So what separates them? We'll tell you now.

Price

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 is a little bit newer and it costs more. It sells for $499 with a 2 year contract and a whopping $699 without contract (yes, it costs more than a 16 gig new iPad with LTE!). The Motorola Droid XYBoard costs $429 with contract and $599 without. If you can afford it, we recommend not getting a tablet with a 2 year contract because tablet technology advances so quickly, and the price discount isn't nearly equal to the ETF (early termination fee) as it is with smartphones.

In the US, you can buy a XYBoard 8.2 (minus the name Droid and 3G/4G) for $399, but there is no version of the Tab 7.7 with WiFi only for the US market. The Droid XYBoard 8.2 is also available with 32 gigs of storage, while the Tab 7.7 is only available as a 16 model from Verizon Wireless.

Winner: Motorola Droid XYBoard 8.2

Design and Quality

Both tablets feel like quality pieces, yet their design philosophies are entirely different. Samsung goes for their usual uber-thin and sleek design while the Droid XYBoard is rugged and macho. The Motorola is certainly unique looking with its rubbery edges, cut off corners and metal back panel. It has a water resistant nano coating and enough rubber extending around the sides and back to cushion modest falls. It weighs 2 ounces more than the Samsung.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 has more mainstream appeal since thin and curvy is all the rage, and the brushed aluminum back gives it a touch of class that Samsung's prior plastic-backed Android tablets lacked. It's slightly smaller since it has a smaller display, and that plus the non-grip edges make it easier to slide in and out of a pocket.

Tie. The Samsung has great looks and is very slim, the Droid XYBoard 8.2 is unique looking and rugged.

Display

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 is the first Super AMOLED Plus tablet. It has those better than life saturated colors and high contrast. Everything looks a little prettier when "colorized", and most folks love Super AMOLED Plus displays. The display has Super AMOLED's usual cool color cast, but whites still look reasonably white. The display resolution is 1280 x 800, same as the XYBoard 8.2, but because the display is a half inch smaller, icons and text are little smaller (potentially harder on the eyes).

The Motorola Droid XYBoard 8.2 has a 1280 x 800 pixel IPS display that's very bright. Bright enough to use outdoors, in fact. It is easier to see outdoors, though both tablets have plenty of glare. IPS displays are very sharp and have natural color balance and saturation. Thus the Moto's display is lovely, but not hyper-colorful like the Samsung. For eBook reading, I prefer an IPS display since colors that bloom and bust out like June in a jungle aren't a plus. For movie viewing, it's a harder call.

Tie. Samsung for those wild colors and contrast, the XYBoard for that accurate IPS display. Both have very wide viewing angles.

Battery Life

Samsung is the clear winner here. It has a larger 5100 mAh battery vs. the XYBoard 8.2's 3960 mAh battery, and the Tab 7.7 consistently lasted 2.5 times longer with LTE turned on.

Winner: Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7

Horsepower

Samsung takes this one too. It's hard to beat Samsung's dual core Exynos CPU with Mali GPU, and the 1.4GHz Galaxy Tab takes nearly every benchmark and feels a bit faster too. The Motorola Droid XYBoard has a dual core 1.2GHz TI OMAP CPU that's used in several Android smartphones and a few tablets, and while it's a solid CPU with hardware graphics acceleration it can't touch the Exynos.

Winner: Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7

Wireless Data

These are data only devices. US tablets don't do cellular voice calls, though you can do VoIP (Skype, GoogleTalk) over WiFi and 3G/4G. Both have 3G EV-DO Rev. A and 4G LTE on Verizon's network, but the XYBoard is a world GSM roamer (after a software update enabled that feature last month). For those of you who travel to Europe and Asia, this could be a plus.

Both tablets have similar 3G and 4G reception, though in very weak signal areas, the Motorola Droid XYBoard 8.2 managed to hold onto the LTE 4G signal where the Tab 7.7 dropped to 3G. The Droid got consistently higher download and upload speeds, particularly in middling coverage areas (the Samsung almost caught up in very strong LTE signal areas). On average, the XYBoard got 3 Mbps faster download and .5 to 1 Mbps faster uploads.

Winner: Motorola Droid XYBoard 8.2

Looks like the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 has the edge, but check out our Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 vs. Motorola Droid XYBoard 8.2 Comparison Smackdown video to get all the info: